Those executed included three drug traffickers from Taiwan, a Hong Kong resident, two Shanghai heroin dealers, four dealers in the northern province of Shaanxi, three farmers in China's drug-afflicted southwest, and four manufacturers of methamphetamine, the state-run New China news agency said.

It carried conflicting accounts on the total number of people put to death but said the executions made "a clear and compelling statement."

China also executed at least 38 drug traffickers last week.

In its first policy paper on China's drug problems, the government said Monday that the number of registered drug addicts jumped from 148,000 in 1991 to 681,000 last year.

Heroin was the drug of choice for 71 percent of addicts, and 79 percent were under age 35, according to the document issued by the State Council, China's Cabinet.